1

 Ms. Cuevas filed the initial complaint in this case on July 20, 2005. Mr. Vera followed

with his complaint on September 21, 2005. The two cases were subsequently consolidated.

2

 Ms. Cuevas and Mr. Vera are the biological parents of Delimar, and each of them, in

addition to asserting their own putative individual claim, also assert a claim on behalf of and as

parent and natural guardian of Delimar. 

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

LUZ AIDA CUEVAS, INDIVIDUALLY : CIVIL ACTION

ON HER OWN BEHALF AND AS :

PARENT AND NATURAL GUARDIAN :

OF, AND ON BEHALF OF DELIMAR :

VERA, A MINOR, ET AL., :

Plaintiffs, :

 :

vs. :

 :

CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, ET AL., :

Defendants. : No. 05-3749 [Consolidated]

Gene E.K. Pratter, J. Memorandum and Order August 11, 2006

The Defendants in these consolidated1 civil rights cases brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §

1983 move to dismiss the complaints filed pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). 

After much analysis and with considerable appreciation for the professional skills of several of

the counsel involved in this wrenching case that has, no doubt, caused many heads to shake in

wonder at its occurrence and many sympathetic helping hands to be extended to the people

involved, for the reasons discussed below, the motions to dismiss the complaints will be granted.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The plaintiffs are Luz Aida Cuevas, Pedro Vera and Delimar Vera.2 The defendants are

the City of Philadelphia, Harold B. Hairston, John J. Grugan, Vincent W. Heeney, Robert J.

McBrearty, Lucien Cerulli, Joseph E. Rissling, Haresh Mirchandani, M.D., Carl Spurill, David

Case 2:05-cv-03749-GEKP Document 36 Filed 08/11/06 Page 1 of 46
3

 Mr. Hairston was the Philadelphia Fire Commissioner, Mr. Grugan was the Deputy

Chief and Fire Marshal for the City of Philadelphia, Mr. Heeney was a Lieutenant with the

Philadelphia Fire Marshal’s Officer, Mr. McBrearty was a Battalion Chief with the Philadelphia

Fire Department, Mr. Cerulli was an Assistant Battalion Chief with the Philadelphia Fire

Department, and Mr. Rissling was a Lieutenant with the Philadelphia Fire Department. Dr.

Mirchandani was the Medical Examiner for the City of Philadelphia, Mr. Spurill was an

Investigator with the Office of the Medical Examiner, Mr. Quain was the Chief Investigator with

the Office of the Medical Examiner, Dr. Kauffman was a Forensic Fellow with the Office of the

Medical Examiner, Dr. McDonald was an Assistant Medical Examiner with the Officer of the

Medical Examiner, and Dr. Revercomb was an Assistant Medical Examiner with the Officer of

the Medical Examiner. Richard Neal was the Commissioner of the Philadelphia Police

Department. 

2

Quain, Greg McDonald, D.O., Carolyn H. Revercomb, M.D., and Richard Neal (the “City

Defendants”).3 Dr. Pat Kauffman, who is not employed by the City of Philadelphia, is also a

defendant. 

The claims arise from a fire that occurred on December 15, 1997, which allegedly began

in the second floor front bedroom of the Cuevas home, where Ms. Cuevas’s infant daughter,

Delimar, slept. Cuevas Compl. at ¶¶ 21-22; Vera Compl. at ¶ 21. Plaintiffs allege that upon

realizing that there was a fire in her home, Ms. Cuevas immediately ran to Delimar’s room, but

that the baby was not in her crib. Cuevas Compl. at ¶ 22; Vera Compl. at ¶ 22. Ms. Cuevas then

allegedly left the room and soon thereafter attempted to re-enter it but could not do so because of

smoke and flames. Cuevas Compl. at ¶ 22. According to Ms. Cuevas, the Philadelphia Fire

Department responded to the fire and had it under control within just 14 minutes. Cuevas

Compl. at ¶ 23; Vera Compl. at ¶ 23. Ms. Cuevas asserts that as the Fire Department and other

City officials were responding, she reported to a representative of the Fire Department and/or

Fire Marshal’s Office that her infant daughter was missing, and reported that she had personally

entered the front bedroom during the fire, but saw clearly that her daughter was not there. 

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4

 42 U.S.C. §§ 5779, 5780. While Ms. Cuevas refers to the statute as the Missing

Children’s Act, and Defendants refer to it as the Missing Children’s Assistance Act, the proper

name for the statute in question is the National Child Search Assistance Act of 1990. The matter

is a bit more complicated by the fact that, as will be discussed below, the provisions under which

Ms. Cuevas asserts her claims were enacted as part of the Crime Control Act of 1990, and were

not part of the original statute, which was enacted in 1974. In the interest of accuracy, the statute

will be referred to as the National Child Search Assistance Act.

3

Cuevas Compl. at ¶ 24; Vera Compl. at ¶ 24. Mr. Vera asserts that upon learning of the fire, he

immediately went to the home, only to be told that his infant daughter had perished in the fire. 

Vera Compl. at ¶¶ 25-26.

Approximately six years after the fire, on January 24, 2004, Ms. Cuevas alleges that she

was attending a children’s party and spotted a six-year old girl who “bore a striking resemblance

to herself.” Cuevas Compl. at ¶ 37; Vera Compl. at ¶ 35. Ms. Cuevas obtained a lock of the

girl’s hair, arranged to have a DNA analysis conducted and eventually learned that the young girl

was, in fact, her missing daughter, who had been kidnaped from the home and raised by another

woman, Carolyn Correa. Cuevas Compl. at ¶¶ 37-38; Vera Compl. at ¶¶ 35-37. Ms. Cuevas

alleges that during the time that Delimar lived with Ms. Correa, Delimar was subjected to

physical and psychological abuse. Cuevas Compl. at ¶ 40. Ms. Correa was subsequently arrested

and charged with kidnapping, arson and other related criminal offenses. Vera Compl. at ¶ 40. 

Delimar presently resides with Ms. Cuevas.

A. Cuevas Complaint

Ms. Cuevas filed her complaint on July 20, 2005. The basis of the two-count complaint

is that all of the defendants violated Ms. Cuevas and Delimar’s federal statutory right under the

National Child Search Assistance Act of 19904 and/or their right to procedural due process under

the Fourteenth Amendment by failing to conduct a proper search for Delimar at the time of and

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5

 The Court notes that although the Cuevas Complaint does not set forth a separate count

alleging a violation of procedural due process, both counts of that Complaint allege that the

National Child Search Assistance Act establish a statutory and/or procedural due process right. 

Cuevas Compl. at ¶ 43. Thus, the Court construes the procedural due process claim to be

asserted via a property interest conferred by the statute.

4

shortly after the fire. Cuevas Compl. at ¶ 43. Ms. Cuevas specifically alleges that despite her

efforts to persuade the officers that her daughter was missing, two of the Fire Department

defendants – Mr. Heeney and Mr. McBrearty – conducted only a cursory search for Delimar and,

after not being able to locate Delimar’s body or her remains, declared that she had died in the

fire, and that Mr. Heeney, Mr. Cerulli and Mr. Rissling each failed to report Delimar as a missing

child as was required under the National Child Search Assistance Act. Cuevas Compl. at ¶¶ 28-

31. 

Ms. Cuevas further alleges that the Office of the Medical Examiner also conducted an

inadequate investigation into Delimar’s disappearance, in that although no body or remains were

ever located in the remnants from the fire, and no death certificate was ever issued, the Medical

Examiner presumed that the newborn had “been completely consumed by the fire.” Cuevas

Compl. at ¶ 32. Ms. Cuevas additionally alleges that after being notified that no remains had

been located, the Philadelphia Police Department did not conduct an investigation as to

Delimar’s whereabouts. Cuevas Compl. at ¶ 34-36. 

Ms. Cuevas asserts that these failures to comply with the National Child Search

Assistance Act, both singularly and collectively, constituted a violation of her and Delimar’s

rights, both under the statute and pursuant to procedural due process.5 Ms. Cuevas finally alleges

that the City of Philadelphia is at fault because at all material times, it was the City of

Philadelphia’s policy, custom and/or practice to not adequately train and/or instruct Fire

Case 2:05-cv-03749-GEKP Document 36 Filed 08/11/06 Page 4 of 46
6

 Like Ms. Cuevas, Mr. Vera alleges that despite Ms. Cuevas’s efforts to persuade the

officers that her daughter was missing, two of the Fire Department defendants – Mr. Heeney and

Mr. McBrearty – conducted only a cursory search for the baby and, after not being able to locate

the baby’s body or her remains, declared that the baby had died in the fire, and that Mr. Heeney,

Mr. Cerulli and Mr. Rissling each failed to report Delimar as a missing child as was required

under the National Child Search Assistance Act. Vera Compl. at ¶¶ 27-30; 42-44. 

Mr. Vera further alleges that the Office of the Medical Examiner conducted an inadequate

investigation into Delimar’s disappearance, in that although no body or remains were ever

located, and no death certificate was ever issued, the Medical Examiner presumed that the baby

had “been completely consumed by the fire.” Vera Compl. at ¶ 31-33. Mr. Vera alleges that

after being notified that no remains had been located, the Philadelphia Police Department did not

conduct an investigation as to Delimar’s whereabouts. Vera Compl. at ¶ 34. Mr. Vera asserts

that these failures to comply with the National Child Search Assistance Act, both singularly and

collectively, constituted a violation of his and Delimar’s rights. Vera Compl. at ¶¶ 51-53. 

Mr. Vera finally alleges that the City of Philadelphia is at fault because at all material

times, it was the City of Philadelphia’s policy, custom and/or practice to not adequately train

and/or instruct Fire Department, Fire Marshal’s Office, Medical Examiner’s Office and Police

Department personnel regarding, among other things, their obligations under the National Child

Search Assistance Act, how to properly identify a person as “missing,” and how to properly

investigate to determine whether a person is missing or dead, and that it was the custom and

practice of the City not to follow the requirements set forth in the Act. Vera Compl. at ¶¶ 45-47.

5

Department, Fire Marshal’s Office, Medical Examiner’s Office and Police Department personnel

regarding, among other things, their obligations under the National Child Search Assistance Act,

how to properly identify a person as “missing,” and how to properly investigate to determine

whether a person is missing or dead, and that it was the custom and practice of the City not to

follow the requirements set forth in the Act. Cuevas Compl. at ¶¶ 26 - 27.

B. Vera Complaint

Mr. Vera filed his six-count complaint on September 21, 2005. Like Ms. Cuevas, in the

first two counts of his complaint Mr. Vera alleges that all of the defendants violated his and

Delimar’s rights under the federal National Child Search Assistance Act and/or federal

constitutional due process.6 However, Mr. Vera’s complaint includes some additional claims. 

Case 2:05-cv-03749-GEKP Document 36 Filed 08/11/06 Page 5 of 46
7

 Although the Defendants argue that these counts of the Vera Complaint pertain only to

Mr. Vera, as will be discussed herein, a substantive due process claim on behalf of Delimar is

asserted with respect to the state-created danger theory.

8

 Dr. Kauffman filed a separate Motion to Dismiss the Cuevas Complaint, in which she

incorporates by reference the memorandum of law submitted on behalf of all other Defendants,

and adds a few additional arguments that are discussed herein. Dr. Kauffman did not move to

dismiss the Vera Complaint.

6

Specifically, in Counts 3 and 4 of the Complaint, Mr. Vera claims that the Individual Defendants

and the City, respectively, deprived Mr. Vera and Delimar of their rights to substantive due

process under the Fourteenth Amendment.7 In Counts 5 and 6 of his Complaint, Mr. Vera

alleges that the Individual Defendants and the City, respectively, are liable for state law tort

claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress upon both him and Delimar.

C. Pending Motions

The City Defendants and Dr. Kauffman8 (collectively, “the Defendants”) move to dismiss

both complaints on several grounds. The Defendants first argue that the National Child Search

Assistance Act does not confer a federally protected private right on Ms. Cuevas, Mr. Vera

and/or Delimar Vera. Next, Defendants argue that even if such a right were found to exist, the

individual defendants named in the Complaint were not required reporters under the Act. The

Defendants further argue that any claims against Messrs. Hairston, Neal and Mirchandani fail

because neither Ms. Cuevas nor Mr. Vera attributed any conduct to these defendants and that the

claim against Dr. Kauffman must be dismissed because Delimar was never reported as missing to

anyone at the Office of the Medical Examiner. The City Defendants’ final argument with respect

to the National Child Search Assistance Act is that the claims must be dismissed because none of

the Defendants qualify as a “law enforcement agency” within the meaning of the National Child

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7

Search Assistance Act. 

The City Defendants further argue that Mr. Vera’s substantive due process allegations

must be dismissed because they do not sufficiently allege a state-created danger and because

there is no allegation that the City directly intervened in the relationship between Delimar and

Mr. Vera. Finally, in both cases, the Defendants argue that the Individual Defendants are entitled

to qualified immunity and are, therefore, shielded from liability.

Separate oral arguments were held with respect to both motions. Because the cases have

been consolidated and, obviously, emanate from the same fundamental factual circumstances, the

Court is rendering a single Memorandum and Order.

DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

When deciding a motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6),

the Court may look only to the facts alleged in the complaint and its attachments. Jordan v. Fox,

Rothschild, O’Brien & Frankel, 20 F.3d 1251, 1261 (3d Cir. 1994). The Court must accept as

true all well-pleaded allegations in the complaint and view them in the light most favorable to the

plaintiff. Angelastro v. Prudential-Bache Sec., Inc., 764 F.2d 939, 944 (3d Cir. 1985). A Rule

12(b)(6) motion will be granted only when it is certain that no relief could be granted under any

set of facts that could be proved by the plaintiff. Ransom v. Marrazzo, 848 F.2d 398, 401 (3d

Cir. 1988).

B. Personal Rights under the National Child Search Assistance Act

Defendants argue that the Cuevas/Vera claims seeking recovery under the National Child

Search Assistance Act (“the Act”) must be dismissed because that Act does not confer the right

Case 2:05-cv-03749-GEKP Document 36 Filed 08/11/06 Page 7 of 46
9

 The plaintiffs in Blessing were five mothers in Arizona whose children were eligible to

receive child support services from the state pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act. 

Blessing, 520 U.S. at 332. The mothers filed suit claiming that they had an enforceable

individual right to have the state’s program achieve “substantial compliance” with the

requirements of the statute, which provided that in order to qualify for funds under the Aid to

Families with Dependent Children Act, a state must certify that it would operate a child support

enforcement program that conforms with the requirements set forth in the Social Security Act. 

8

on an individual plaintiff to enforce the statute, thereby eliminating a statutory basis to bring an

action pursuant to Section 1983. The Plaintiffs disagree, arguing that the Act, which sets forth

the requirements under which a child reported as missing must be reported to federal and other

authorities, unambiguously confers a private right on them, and, particularly, on Delimar Vera. 

Section 1983 provides a vehicle for imposing liability against anyone who, under color of

state law, deprives a person “of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by Constitution and

laws.” 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In Maine v. Thiboutot, 448 U.S. 1 (1980), the Supreme Court held that

Section 1983 provides safeguards for certain rights conferred by federal statutes. However, in

order to seek redress under Section 1983, a plaintiff must assert the violation of a federal right,

and not merely a violation of federal law. Golden State Transit Corp. v. Los Angeles, 493 U.S.

103, 106 (1989). This, as can be seen most especially in a case such as this one, is not a matter

of mere semantics.

In Blessing v. Freestone, 520 U.S. 329, 340-41 (1997), the Supreme Court set forth a

three-pronged test to determine whether a statute confers a federal right upon an individual,

including whether: (1) Congress intended that the provision in question benefit the plaintiff; (2)

the right asserted to be protected is so “vague and amorphous” that its enforcement would strain

judicial competence; and (3) the statute unambiguously imposes a binding obligation on the

States.9 Where a plaintiff successfully establishes these requirements, a rebuttable presumption

Case 2:05-cv-03749-GEKP Document 36 Filed 08/11/06 Page 8 of 46
Id. at 333. The Blessing Court set forth the three-pronged test outlined in the text above and

concluded that the requirements imposed on the states were precatory, rather than mandatory,

and, therefore, did not confer a private right that could be pursued via Section 1983. The

Blessing Court also concluded that the requirement that a state “substantially comply” with the

statute in order to avoid additional audits or financial penalties was “designed only to guide the

state in structuring its systemwide efforts at enforcing support obligations” and not to confer

rights directly onto individuals. Id. at 343.

10 The Blessing Court stated that it “was incumbent upon respondents to identify with

particularity the rights they claimed,” and that “[o]nly when the complaint is broken down into

manageable analytic bites can a court ascertain whether each separate claim satisfies the various

criteria we have set forth for determining whether a federal statute creates such rights.” Blessing,

520 at 343.

11 In this respect, the analysis is analogous to a court’s discerning whether a right of

action was implied by Congress. Gonzaga, 536 U.S. at 286.

9

of the existence of a right is established; however, such a claim could still be dismissed if, after

inquiry with respect to congressional intent, a court concludes that Congress “specifically

foreclosed a remedy under § 1983.” Blessing, 520 U.S. at 341.

Although the Blessing test at first seems fairly straightforward, subsequent analyses by

the Supreme Court and other courts suggest that in applying the test there are some fine

distinctions that require a court to look not only at the statutory text, but also, at least with this

particular challenge, to the congressional intent underlying the statute as well as the specific

delineation of the claim itself.10 To discern congressional intent, a court must consider the text

and structure of the statute. Gonzaga University v. Doe, 536 U.S. 273, 286 (2002). That is,

where the text of a statute does not explicitly confer individual rights on a class of beneficiaries,

the analysis to determine whether Congress intended to confer individual rights upon a class of

beneficiaries, a court finds itself needing to at least look to the legislative history and other

indicators of legislative intent.11 Gonzaga, 536 U.S. at 285. 

Case 2:05-cv-03749-GEKP Document 36 Filed 08/11/06 Page 9 of 46
12 The Gonzaga Court also looked to four of its previous decisions regarding this issue in

considering the provisions of FERPA. In Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman,

451 U.S. 1 (1981), the Court rejected a claim that the Developmentally Disabled Assistance and

Bill of Rights Act of 1975 conferred enforceable rights because the legislation was enacted

pursuant to the spending power and the “typical remedy” for non-compliance would be to

terminate funds rather than allow for a private remedy. In Wright v. Roanoke Redevelopment

and Housing Authority, 479 U.S. 418 (1987), the Court found that a provision in the Public

10

The most recent Supreme Court case addressing the issue of whether a statute conferred a

federal right is Gonzaga University v. Doe, 536 U.S. 273 (2002). In Gonzaga, the plaintiff was a

former university student who claimed that certain rights conferred by the Family Educational

Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”) had been violated. FERPA is a statute that was enacted

pursuant to the spending power of Congress and conditioned the receipt of federal funds by

educational institutions on certain requirements relating to the access and disclosure of student

educational records. Gonzaga, 536 U.S. at 278. The text of the act provided that “[n]o funds

shall be made available under any applicable program to any educational agency or institution

which has a policy or practice of permitting the release of education records (or personally

identifiable information contained therein . . . .) of students without the written consent of their

parents to any individual, agency or organization.” Id. 

The plaintiff, an undergraduate student aspiring to be a teacher, claimed that his rights

had been violated because a staff member of the university contacted the state teaching

certification agency, identified the plaintiff by name, and informed the agency of unverified

allegations made against the plaintiff with respect to an act of sexual misconduct. Id. at 277. 

The plaintiff filed a claim pursuant to Section 1983, alleging that the university had violated his

rights by improperly disclosing information in violation of the requirements of FERPA.

The Gonzaga Court applied the Blessing12 test, noting that there had been some confusion

Case 2:05-cv-03749-GEKP Document 36 Filed 08/11/06 Page 10 of 46
Housing Act conferred specific and definite entitlements because it imposed a ceiling for rents

charged to low-income people living in public housing projects and stated that residents “shall

pay as rent” a specified percentage of its income. In Wilder v. Virginia Hospital Ass’n, 496 U.S.

498, 502-03 (1990), the Court held that a provision in the Medicaid Act conferred a specific

private right on health care providers because it required state plans for medical assistance to

provide for payment that was “reasonable and adequate to meet the costs which must be incurred

by efficiently and economically operated facilities.” Finally, in Suter v. Artist M., 503 U.S. 347,

363 (1992), the Court found that federal reimbursement program set forth in the Adoption

Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 did not confer a right enforceable by a class of

plaintiffs because a requirement that a state make “reasonable efforts” to prevent or eliminate the

need for removal of a child from his or her home did not unambiguously confer a right to enforce

the requirement on child beneficiaries of the Act. In each of these cases, the Court looked to the

context of the language purported to confer such a right, as well as the regulations (if any)

promulgated to enforce the statute and the intent of Congress as discerned from certain pieces of

legislative history. 

11

in interpreting Blessing to mean that a plaintiff could enforce a statute under Section 1983 “so

long as the plaintiff falls within the general zone of interest that the statute is intended to protect,

something less than what is required for a statute to create rights enforceable directly from the

statute itself under an implied private right of action.” Gonzaga, 563 U.S. at 283. The Court

went on to clarify the Blessing test, stating that “we now reject the notion that our cases permit

anything short of an unambiguously conferred right to support a cause of action under § 1983.” 

Gonzaga, 536 U.S. at 283. 

The Gonzaga Court additionally “reject[ed] the notion that our implied right of action

cases are separate and distinct from our § 1983 cases,” advising that cases which required an

analysis of whether a right of action is implied “should guide the determination of whether a

statute confers rights enforceable under § 1983.” Gonzaga, at 536 U.S. at 283. Finding that the

provisions of FERPA “entirely lack the sort of ‘rights-creating’ language critical to showing the

requisite congressional intent to create new rights,” the Court held that no private right was

intended. Id. at 287. Thus, Gonzaga clarified the Blessing test by further defining and tightening

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12

the requirement that any such right must be unambiguous. Once a plaintiff has demonstrated the

required elements under Blessing, a court must consider whether, by means of a comprehensive

administrative scheme or other methodology, Congress has implicitly precluded a private right of

action.

In applying the Blessing and Gonzaga tests to the instant case, some guidance is provided

by a relatively recent interpretation of those cases by the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. 

In Sabree v. Richman, 367 F.3d 180 (3d Cir. 2004), the court considered, as a matter of first

impression, whether, under the federal Medicaid statute, a requirement for states to provide

medical assistance covering medical services from an intermediate care facility for persons with

mental retardation with “reasonable promptness” unambiguously conferred private rights upon

mentally retarded recipients of such services.

To determine the characteristics of an “unambiguously conferred right,” the Sabree court

concluded that Gonzaga requires that to confer a private right, a statute must include “rightscreating language” which clearly imparts an individual entitlement with an “unmistakable focus

on the benefitted class.” Sabree, 367 F.3d at 187 (quoting Blessing, 520 U.S. at 343 and

Gonzaga, 536 U.S. at 287). As an example, the Sabree court noted that the Medicaid Act

required that “a State plan for medical assistance must provide . . . medical assistance . . . to . . .

all [eligible] individuals” and that “such assistance shall be furnished with reasonable

promptness to all eligible individuals.” Sabree, 367 F.3d at 182, n.4, 189. Applying the clarified

Blessing test, the Sabree court concluded that the statutory language requiring that a state “must

provide” medical assistance services with reasonable promptness met all three prongs of the test

because the plaintiffs (1) were the intended beneficiaries of the statute, (2) the rights the plaintiffs

Case 2:05-cv-03749-GEKP Document 36 Filed 08/11/06 Page 12 of 46
13

sought to enforce were specific and enumerated and (3) the obligation imposed upon the states

was unambiguous and binding. Sabree, 367 F.3d at 189. 

Having satisfied the Blessing elements, the court then added that under Gonzaga, a

further examination was required to ensure that the unambiguous rights asserted were conferred

upon the plaintiffs, and not that plaintiffs merely fell within a “general zone of interest that the

statute is intended to protect.” Sabree, 367 F.2d at 189-90. Noting that the statutory requirement

that a state plan “must provide” services was analogous to the “no person shall” language

determined by the Gonzaga Court to be an example of rights-creating language, the court of

appeals found that the statutory language was “mandatory rather than precatory.” Id. at 190. 

Furthermore, the court noted, the relevant provisions enumerated that such entitlements be made

available to “all eligible individuals,” and, therefore, did not focus on the “entity regulated rather

than the individuals protected.” Id. For these reasons, the Sabree court concluded that the plain

meaning of the statutory text clearly delineated rights that were both unambiguous and personal

in nature, such that personal rights were indeed intended.

The Sabree court finally considered whether the presumption of the availability of Section

1983 as a vehicle for suit was rebutted expressly or by the existence of a comprehensive remedial

scheme that was designed to preclude individual suits. Id. at 193. After noting that there was no

explicit provision excluding individual actions, the court noted that the state faced a “substantial

burden” to demonstrate that there was a “comprehensive remedial scheme” which would

supplant any remedies under Section 1983. Finding that the remedial scheme associated with the

Medicaid Act fell short of being sufficiently comprehensive, the Sabree court concluded that the

plaintiffs had stated valid and enforceable claims. Id. at 194. 

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13 At that time, the newly established provisions, along with other amendments to the

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, were called the “Juvenile Justice, Runaway

Youth, and Missing Children’s Act Amendments of 1984.” 42 U.S.C. § 5601, Historical and

Statutory Notes.

14

Given this guidance, the Court will now apply each prong of the test set forth in Sabree to

this case.

1. Intended Beneficiaries of the Statute – Existence of an Unambiguous

Right

The Court first considers whether the text and structure of the National Child Search

Assistance Act can be interpreted to confer an unambiguous right upon individual citizens, and

concludes that it does not. The statutory regulations governing missing children were originally

enacted as a subchapter of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, which is

included in Title 42 of the United States Code. The primary provisions, which include Sections

5771 through 5777 of the statute, were enacted in 1984 through amendment of the Juvenile

Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. See 42 U.S.C. § 5601, Historical and Statutory Notes.13

These provisions include the following Congressional findings:

each year thousands of children are abducted or removed from the control of a

parent having legal custody without such parent’s consent, under circumstances

which immediately place the child in grave danger; 

many missing children are at great risk of both physical harm and sexual exploitation; 

in many cases parents and local law enforcement officials have neither the resources nor

the expertise to mount expanded search efforts; [and that] 

abducted children are frequently moved from one locality to another, requiring the

cooperation and coordination of local, State and Federal law enforcement efforts.

42 U.S.C. § 5771. Congress additionally found that the National Center for Missing and

Exploited Children serves as a national resource center and clearinghouse for data with respect to

Case 2:05-cv-03749-GEKP Document 36 Filed 08/11/06 Page 14 of 46
15

missing children and that the Center works in partnership with various federal agencies and

operates a “national and increasingly worldwide network” to try and locate missing children. Id. 

Section 5773 establishes the position of an Administrator who is charged with various

responsibilities, such as the issuance of rules necessary to coordinate the activities among

federally funded programs relating to missing children. 42 U.S.C. § 5773. For each of the fiscal

years 2004 through 2008, funds in the amount of $20,000,000 were appropriated to the

Administrator to carry out these responsibilities. Id. In turn, the Administrator is authorized to

“make grants to and enter into contracts with the Center and with public agencies or nonprofit

private organizations, or combinations thereof, for research, demonstration projects, or service

programs. . . .” 42 U.S.C. § 5775. 

The specific provisions under which the Plaintiffs here assert their claims, however, were

not enacted as part of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974. Rather, the

sections of the statute relevant to the Plaintiffs’ complaints were added when the National Child

Search Assistance Act of 1990, which was part of the Crime Control Act of 1990, was enacted. 

This statute consists of two provisions. 

Section 5779 of the Act provides that “[e]ach Federal, State, and local law enforcement

agency shall report each case of a missing child under the age of 21 reported to such agency to

the National Crime Information Center of the Department of Justice,” and Section 5780 states

that “[e]ach State reporting [such information] shall ensure that no law enforcement agency

within the State establishes or maintains any policy that requires the observance of any waiting

period before accepting a missing child or unidentified person report.” 42 U.S.C. §§ 5779-80. 

Section 5779 also provides that the Attorney General “may establish guidelines for the collection

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14 Ms. Cuevas specifically argues that the requirement that “each . . . local law

enforcement agency shall report each case of a missing child . . . .” is mandatory rather than

precatory and that, given the findings, missing children and their parents are unquestionably the

16

of such reports including procedures for carrying out the purposes of this section . . . .” 42

U.S.C. § 5779(b). There is no formal statement of policy in this portion of the statute.

Based on a review of the express statutory language, the Court concludes that there is no

indication of an intent to establish an unambiguous individual right to enforce the statute. The

focus of the statute is about streamlining the process through which information about missing

children is collected and may be shared. To be sure, lawmakers and the public at large would

hope that children such as Delimar and their parents would benefit from the centralization of the

data collection effort. However, the case law is clear that absent specific statutory language or

other specific intent to confer an unambiguous individual right, no individual right can be

inferred even if an individual is a beneficiary of the statute. After reviewing an abundance of

documents relating to the legislative history of the National Child Search Assistance Act, there is

no discernable indication that Sections 5779 and 5780 were enacted for any purpose other than

to improve the tracking and investigation of cases of missing children. 

2. Binding and Mandatory Obligation on States

The Court must next consider whether the Act imposes a binding and mandatory

obligation on the states in such a way as to make the Act enforceable by individual citizens. 

After reviewing the Act and, at the urging of the litigants here, its underlying legislative history,

the Court concludes that there is no binding obligation that would warrant private enforcement.

 Relying primarily on Kentucky Dep’t of Corrections v. Thompson, 490 U.S. 454, 460

(1989), the Plaintiffs argue that the use of the word “shall” in Section 5779(a) of the Act,14 when

Case 2:05-cv-03749-GEKP Document 36 Filed 08/11/06 Page 16 of 46
intended beneficiaries.

17

read in conjunction with the Congressional findings, supports a reading that the statutory

requirements are mandatory rather than discretionary and are a clear directive that binds state and

local law enforcement agencies. Plaintiff’s Answer to Motion to Dismiss at 13. In Thomson, the

Court was asked to determine whether state prison regulations guiding a prison officer’s

discretion in disallowing visitors conferred a liberty interest protected under the Due Process

Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. In analyzing the issue,

the Thompson Court stated that a “protected liberty interest [is created] by placing substantive

limitations on official discretion.” Thompson, 490 U.S. at 462. Thus, a liberty interest could

arise where a state established “substantive predicates” to govern official decision-making. Id.

The Court disagrees that Thomson is dispositive here. As discussed above, Section

5779(b) allows for the Attorney General to establish guidelines for collecting the reports

submitted pursuant to Section 5779(a), and Section 5779(c) imposes an obligation upon the

Attorney General to publish an annual statistical summary of the reports received under the Act. 

42 U.S.C. § 5779. This provision suggests that Congress intended for the enforcement of the

obligations imposed by the Act to rest appropriately with the Attorney General.

Moreover, without endorsing resort to legislative history, the Court notes that the

legislative history that Plaintiffs suggest provides insight does not support finding an individual

right. A report from the House of Representatives’ Committee on the Judiciary, in

recommending that the representatives vote in favor of the amendments, stated that the purpose

of the amendments was “to require Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to enter

missing children reports and unidentified person reports in the National Crime Information

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15 The bill proposed as H.R. 4407, which was the substance of the hearing, represented

the later version of the bill, as the Act was adopted just over a month later.

18

Center immediately after they are received, without any waiting period.” H.R. REP. No. 101-872,

at 2. According to this report, the bill was said to be “intended to deal with a situation in which

agencies are observing (usually informally) a waiting period before entering missing child reports

in the NCIC.” H.R. REP. 101-872 at 2 (1990). Aside, perhaps, from noting that “if a missing

child is in danger, that danger is most extreme within the first 48 hours after his or her

disappearance,” the report contains no additional information with respect to whether the statute

was intended to confer individual rights.

 The Congressional Record for the Senate relating to the introduction of Sections 5779

and 5780 suggests that these provisions were proposed to “offer an amendment that would

greatly facilitate search efforts for missing children.” 136 CONG. REC. S9119, 9123 (daily ed.

June 11, 1990) (statement of Senator McConnell). The amendment was offered to remedy “gaps

. . . in the system,” and mention was made that “missing children and their families suffer from

the inefficiencies of an underutilized system.” Id. Finally, the amendments were said to address

“the pressing need for uniform, nationwide access to all missing children reports,” and would be

“the impetus needed to coordinate local, State, and national resources.” Id. at 9124.

At a hearing of the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional

Rights concerning the version of the statute proposed in the House of Representatives (H.R.

4407),15 the bill was stated to represent “an effort to create uniformity and greater efficiency in

the reporting of missing children cases,” and would enable “law enforcement agencies across the

State lines to access information on missing children,” establishing “[a] more efficient system of

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16 This language is not in the actual text of the Act, and was, presumably, removed during

the final legislative process.

19

reporting disappearances. . . .” National Child Search Assistance Act of 1990: Hearing

Concerning H.R. 4407, 101st Cong. 1 (1990) (statement of Honorable Don Edwards, chairman of

the subcommittee). According to a witness advocating passage of the bill, the purpose of the

provision mandating immediate reporting was said to be “because the whole premise is that by

losing 24, 48, 72 hours, we are putting the child at risk.” Id. at 27 (statement of Ernest E. Allen,

President of the Center for Missing and Exploited Children).

Significantly, the version of the Act presented in the hearing on H.R. 4407 included a

provision that “[a]ny State not complying with the provisions of subsection (a) shall be denied

any grant, cooperative agreement, or other assistance authorized by the Missing Children’s

Assistance Act.” Id. at 3.16 During the hearing, this provision was discussed in conjunction with

the provision that the Attorney General establish guidelines for the collection of missing children

reports, and considerations about whether a state would lose a significant amount of funding if it

failed to comply. Id. at 20 (statement of John R. Rabun, Jr., Vice President, National Center for

Missing and Exploited Children).

The legislative history presented here suggests that these provisions were enacted with the

purpose of improving the success rate in locating missing and abducted children by establishing a

more coordinated and efficient use of available resources. Although the children and their

families are potential beneficiaries of such streamlining, both the text of the statute and the

legislative intent that can be gleaned from reports and hearing testimony supports a finding that

this Act was intended to help speed up and/or effect the recovery of missing children who might

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17 The Plaintiffs argue that Castle Rock is not relevant in assessing whether the National

Child Search Assistance Act confers an individual right because the plaintiff in Castle Rock

asserted a procedural due process constitutional violation, and not a statutory violation. Oct. 31,

2005 Tr. at 22:14-17. However, the concept of finding a property right and an intended statutory

right is sufficiently analogous to provide some guidance here.

20

be taken across state lines by requiring that there be a consistent method of collecting statistics

and data regarding those children, and then sharing that data among interested law enforcement

agencies. The Attorney General is responsible for establishing those guidelines, and there is

nothing in the statute to suggest that an individual citizen has a right to enforce them. 

This conclusion is further bolstered by two additional cases. First, Castle Rock v.

Gonzales, 125 S. Ct. 2796 (U.S. 2005),17 a case which suggests that the use of the word “shall”

does not establish a per se mandatory obligation. Additionally, Three Rivers Center for

Independent Living v. Housing Authority of Pgh., 382 F.3d 412 (3d Cir. 2004), provides an

example of when such mandatory language in a statute may be construed not to confer a private

right. 

In Castle Rock, the plaintiff obtained a restraining order from a Colorado state court that

limited the times during which her husband could visit with the couple’s three daughters. When

her husband came and took their daughters without advance notice, the plaintiff went to the

police and requested that they enforce the restraining order and retrieve and return her daughters. 

The plaintiff was advised by the police that there was no action that could be taken and that she

should call back if the children were not returned by 10:00 p.m. that evening. At 10:00 p.m., she

was again told to wait until after midnight to call back. Ultimately, at 3:20 the following

morning, when the plaintiff’s husband arrived at the police station, the children were discovered

to have been murdered by the husband. The issue before the Supreme Court was whether, by

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18 The incident giving rise to this action occurred in mid-1999. There is no indication

that the plaintiff ever argued that the police failed to properly report her daughters as missing or

that the defendants had violated her and her daughters’ rights under the National Child Search

Assistance Act.

21

failing to enforce the restraining order when they had reason to believe it had been violated, the

police had violated the plaintiff’s property interest in having the order enforced.18 Castle Rock,

125 S. Ct. at 2800. 

In analyzing the issue as to whether the plaintiff had a “legitimate claim of entitlement” to

having the order enforced, the Castle Rock Court looked to the preprinted notice to law

enforcement personnel that was stamped on the back of the order. This notice stated that “a

peace officer shall use every reasonable means to enforce a restraining order,” that “a peace

officer shall arrest” a person upon probable cause that the person had violated the order, and that

“a peace officer shall enforce a valid restraining order” regardless of whether a record of such

order existed. Castle Rock, 125 S. Ct. at 2805. The Court first concluded that because there is a

“well established tradition of police discretion,” it did not believe that the provisions of the

Colorado law, as stated on the restraining order, were truly mandatory. Id at 2805-06. Moreover,

and perhaps most importantly in this instance, the Court noted that even had the provisions been

truly mandatory, the act of requiring certain actions by government employees did not, in and of

itself, demonstrate that a personal right of enforcement had been conferred upon the plaintiff. Id.

at 2808. These obligatory actions, the Court stated, “can serve various legitimate ends other than

the conferral of a benefit on a specific class of people.” Id.

In Three Rivers, a class of disabled plaintiffs filed suit seeking declaratory and injunctive

relief compelling a housing authority to comply with regulations promulgated by the Department

Case 2:05-cv-03749-GEKP Document 36 Filed 08/11/06 Page 21 of 46
22

of Housing and Urban Development. Three Rivers, 382 F.3d at 415. The regulations directed a

public housing authority that received federal funds, when constructing new housing units, that

those units “shall be designed and constructed to be readily accessible to and usable by

individuals with handicaps.” Id. at 429. The defendants moved to dismiss the complaint,

arguing that the statute did not confer a private right to enforce the statute upon disabled

plaintiffs. 

In analyzing the issue, the Three Rivers court concluded that the existence of a private

right to enforce a regulation depended upon whether the statute enabling the regulations afforded

such a right. It then went on to analyze the statute and its corresponding regulations and

concluded that because the mandate was “not couched in terms of any beneficiary’s entitlement

but aims at the fund recipient’s conduct,” the regulations spoke to the regulated entity rather than

focusing on the beneficiary. Id. at 429. Thus, there was no private right to enforce the

regulation.

In this case, Ms. Cuevas and Mr. Vera vigorously argue that the elimination of any use of

discretion by local law enforcement agencies, accompanied by a lack of a clear enforcement

mechanism set forth in the statute, bespeak a clear intent to allow individuals to enforce the

statute. See Oct. 31 Tr. at 19:9-25; 20:1-10. However, the legislative intent discussed above,

accompanied by the lack of any statutory language that even suggests an individual child or his or

her family would have a right to enforce the statute, weighs against clinging wishfully to the

concept that the absence of discretion is equivalent to an individual right of enforcement. Thus,

the mandatory nature of the Act does not, in and of itself, support a finding of an individual right.

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23

3. Congressional Preclusion

Even where an individual right is found to arise from a statute, that right may be

precluded to the extent that Congress, either expressly or implicitly, forecloses a private remedy. 

Blessing, 520 U.S. at 341. If recourse to Section 1983 is not explicitly forbidden in a statute, the

existence of “a comprehensive enforcement scheme that is incompatible with individual

enforcement under § 1983” is sufficient. Id. Because the Court finds that there is no individual

right to enforce the Act, the issue of Congressional preclusion need not be addressed here.

C. Agency Defendants Not Required Reporters

The City Defendants next argue that even if Ms. Cuevas has successfully stated a claim

under the National Child Search Assistance Act, the Individual Defendants cannot be held liable

because, as employees of the Fire Department and Office of the Medical Examiner, the mandate

did not apply to them because they were not “law enforcement officers.” Defendants’

Memorandum in Support of Motion to Dismiss at 13. In addition, Dr. Kauffman (who is

separately represented) notes that other district courts within the Third Circuit that have stated

that only governmental employees “whose duty it is to preserve the peace” or “to be vigilant in

discovering violations of the criminal laws and ordinance to arrest offenders” are considered to

be “law enforcement officers.” See Imperial Casualty & Indemnity Co. v. Home Ins. Co. of

Manchester, 727 F. Supp. 917, 918 (M.D. Pa. 1990). Dr. Kauffman hastens to point out that the

Pennsylvania statute defining persons required to report suspected child abuse, 23 Pa. C.S.A. §

6311, the positions of “medical examiner” and “peace officer or law enforcement official” are

listed separately, suggesting that the two are not the same. Because the Court concludes that the

Act affords the Plaintiffs no private right of enforcement, this issue will not be addressed.

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24

D. Due Process

The Plaintiffs’ theories of liability diverge with respect to their claims for due process

under the Fourteenth Amendment. Ms. Cuevas argues that because the Act establishes a

methodology regarding the reporting of missing children with which state and local police

officers are obliged to comply, even if no private right of action is conferred by the statute, a

failure to comply with the reporting requirements constitutes a violation of the Plaintiffs’

procedural due process rights. In addition to adopting this argument and claim, Mr. Vera asserts

that the Defendants’ actions deprived him of his interest, guaranteed by the Fourteenth

Amendment, in the companionship, care, custody and control of Delimar and his and Delimar’s

liberty interest in preserving her life and physical safety. 

1. Procedural Due Process

Because the National Child Search Assistance Act divests local law enforcement agencies

of any discretion (i.e., in choosing to report, what information must be reported, and when), Ms.

Cuevas argues that an individual right to due process necessarily arises from the Act. The

Defendants respond that such a claim would be precluded by Castle Rock, 125 S. Ct. at 2796. 

Defendants specifically argue that this case is analogous to Castle Rock because as is the case

here, the mandatory language of the statute at issue in that case warranted an allowance for some

discretion. 

Statutes requiring mandatory action by government actors for the benefit of serving the

public are not necessarily intended or construed to confer a right on a particular individual. See,

e.g., Sandin v. Conner, 515 U.S. 472, 481-82 (1995) (finding that mandatory language used in

prison regulations did not confer property interest on individual prisoners, but rather were

Case 2:05-cv-03749-GEKP Document 36 Filed 08/11/06 Page 24 of 46
19 At oral argument, Defendants’ counsel asserted that only Mr. Vera has been implicated

as a plaintiff respecting these two counts. Jan. 25, 2006 Tr. at 42:18-22. However, the Vera

Complaint is not as clear as counsel suggests. In each of these counts, Mr. Vera asserts that the

individual and City defendants “deprived Pedro Vera and Delimar Vera of their federal

constitutional rights under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment,” and judgment

respecting these counts is requested in favor of both Mr. Vera and Delimar. Vera Compl. at ¶¶

64, 70. Construing the text of the complaint on behalf of Mr. Vera, the Court will assume that

25

enacted for the purpose of providing guidance to correctional officers regarding administration of

prison); see also Castle Rock, 125 S. Ct. at 2808 (“[m]aking the actions of government

employees obligatory can serve various legitimate ends other than the conferral of a benefit on a

specific class of people”). 

Here, the “procedure” to which the Plaintiffs refer is the reporting of the missing child to

the National Child Information Center. As has already been discussed, the purpose of such a

procedure, which is to be monitored by the Attorney General, is to streamline and coordinate the

compilation of information about missing children to utilize law enforcement resources in an

efficient, and, hopefully, successful manner. Although missing children and their families will

benefit from efficient use of available resources, there is no indication that the provisions of the

Act were intended to confer private, individual rights on such beneficiaries of the Act. Because

the National Child Search Assistance Act ultimately provides for an efficient use of law

enforcement resources and benefits the general public, the Court concludes that there is no

individual property interest that would give rise to a procedural due process claim.

2. Substantive Due Process

In Counts 3 and 4 of his Complaint, Mr. Vera argues that the Individual Defendants and

the City violated his and Delimar’s fundamental due process rights bestowed by the Fourteenth

Amendment.19 Mr. Vera also alleges a substantive due process violation respecting his

Case 2:05-cv-03749-GEKP Document 36 Filed 08/11/06 Page 25 of 46
Mr. Vera asserts the substantive due process claim alleging a state-created danger on behalf of

himself and Delimar. The second portion these allegations, involving a liberty interest in the

right to care, custody and control of a child, shall be considered filed on behalf of Mr. Vera only.

26

relationship with Delimar, including his interest in the companionship, care, custody and control

of Delimar, his ability to make decisions concerning the rearing of Delimar and his liberty

interest in preserving Delimar’s life and physical safety. Vera Compl. at ¶ 71. In response, the

Defendants argue that Mr. Vera’s Fourteenth Amendment due process claim fails because (1)

there is no constitutional right to be rescued from harm caused by a third party and (2) there is no

“blanket Fourteenth Amendment right” to a child’s companionship. Defendant’s Memorandum

at 7. 

a. State Created Danger/Failure to Rescue from Pre-Existing

Harm

Counts 3 and 4 of Mr. Vera’s Complaint allege that “[a]s a result of the deliberate

decisions of the above-referenced Individual Defendants in falsely and erroneously determining

that Delimar Vera was ‘deceased,’ as well as refusing and/or neglecting to perform any actual

investigation into the circumstances surrounding her disappearance,” Mr. Vera was “denied his

fundamental constitutional rights in his relationship with his daughter, . . . including, by not

limited to, his interest as a parent in the companionship, care, custody and control of [Delimar],

of the right to make decisions concerning the rearing of [Delimar]; and the cognizable liberty

interest in preserving the life and physical safety of [Delimar]”. Vera Compl. at ¶¶ 66, 72. 

Mr. Vera further alleges that as “a direct and proximate result of the wrongful conduct

engaged in [by the Defendants], Pedro Vera suffered grievous physical pain and emotional

trauma, loss of the society of [Delimar], for approximately six years, violations of his

Case 2:05-cv-03749-GEKP Document 36 Filed 08/11/06 Page 26 of 46
20 In Brown, the plaintiffs were the parents of a one-year old child who died after choking

on a grape. The plaintiffs alleged that the City was at fault because the emergency medical

technicians who had been dispatched to assist the child were delayed in providing assistance. 

Brown, 318 F.3d at 476. The Brown court analyzed the issue pursuant to the state created danger

doctrine set forth in DeShaney v. Winnebago County Social Svcs, 489 U.S. 189 (1989), and

concluded that the delay in providing rescue services did not rise to the level of “shocking the

conscience” of the court, and affirmed the lower court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of

the defendants.

27

constitutional rights under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, loss of earning

power, as well as a loss and diminution of his ability to enjoy the pleasures of life.” Vera Compl.

at ¶¶ 67, 73.

As a general rule, a state’s failure to protect an individual against private violence is not

sufficient to support a claim for a due process violation. Brown v. Pennsylvania, 318 F.3d 473,

478 (3d Cir. 2003).20 There are, however, two circumstances under which a constitutional

violation can result from an exercise of government power over an individual. Id. First, if the

government “so restrains an individual’s liberty that it renders him unable to care for himself,

and at the same time fails to provide for his basic human needs,” a “special relationship” between

the government and the citizen arises and a constitutional violation may be found if the state

restraint exposes an individual to harm. Id. Liability may also arise in the absence of a special

relationship when the state, through its affirmative conduct, creates or enhances a danger for the

individual. Id.

In this case, there is no allegation that either Mr. Vera or Delimar were restrained by the

City and that the City then failed to provide for his or her basic needs. In fact, during the oral

argument, counsel for Mr. Vera argued that liability in this case is not grounded on any asserted

“special relationship” involving custody of the state over Delimar or Mr. Vera, but rather hinges

Case 2:05-cv-03749-GEKP Document 36 Filed 08/11/06 Page 27 of 46
28

on whether the Defendants created an unreasonable danger for the Plaintiffs because their failure

to report her as missing enlarged the time of her false imprisonment. Jan. 25, 2006 Tr. at 29:20-

24. Thus, the first type of liability need not be considered here, and the Court will only consider

the latter state-created danger theory of liability.

The circumstances under which a government or government actor may be held liable for

danger to an individual were set forth in DeShaney v. Winnebago County Social Svcs, 489 U.S.

189 (1989). In DeShaney, the minor plaintiff, Joshua DeShaney, and his mother filed a Section

1983 claim against a state’s social service authorities for failing to remove Joshua from his home

despite repeated and verified complaints that Joshua’s father was physically abusing him. 

DeShaney, 489 U.S. at 193-94. The Section 1983 claim asserted that by failing to intervene and

ignoring the obvious signs and symptoms of abuse, the defendants had deprived Joshua of his

liberty without due process of law in violation of his rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. 

Id. at 193. Thus, the Court considered whether a state actor’s failure to provide an individual

with adequate protective services could amount to a deprivation of constitutional rights. Id. at

194. In affirming the dismissal of the case, the Court concluded that the failure of a state to

protect an individual against private violence does not constitute a violation of the Due Process

Clause. Id. at 197. The Court also found that only where a state restrains an individual’s liberty

by an affirmative exercise of its power would the failure to provide for the individual’s basic

human needs amount to a constitutional violation. Id. at 200. 

Seven years later, in Kneipp v. Tedder, 95 F.3d 1199 (3d Cir. 1996), the Court of

Appeals for the Third Circuit adopted the DeShaney “state created danger” theory. In Kneipp, the

plaintiff and her husband were stopped by the police when they were walking home together late

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29

at night after having been at a bar drinking. Mrs. Kneipp was heavily intoxicated and had

difficulty standing. After some time had passed, Mr. Kneipp became concerned for the welfare

of his young son who was at home, and, after discussing the matter with the police, left to go

home and care for the child, believing that the police would either arrest his wife or take her to

the hospital until she became sober. Kneipp, 95 F.3d at 1202. However, after Mr. Kneipp left,

the police released Mrs. Kneipp and, despite her extremely intoxicated state, left her to walk

home on her own. Id. at 1202. Mrs. Kneipp subsequently fell down an embankment, lost

consciousness, suffered severe hypothermia and became permanently disabled. Id. at 1203. Mrs.

Kneipp filed a Section 1983 claim against the police officers who had stopped the Kneipps that

night and the City of Philadelphia, claiming that her rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to

substantive due process and her liberty interest in personal security had been violated.

After framing the question as “whether the state actors affirmatively acted to create

plaintiff’s danger, or to render him or her more vulnerable to it,” the Kneipp court stated that

there are four common elements to predicate constitutional liability on a state-created danger

theory. Kneipp, 95 F.3d at 1208. The Kneipp court concluded that the evidence submitted was

enough to establish a constitutional claim because the police officers “affirmatively placed [Mrs.

Kneipp] in a position of danger,” affirming the entry of summary judgment on behalf of the

defendants. Kneipp, 95 F.3d at 1211. 

Since Kneipp, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has held that while the

“affirmative placement” of an individual in a position of danger may occur as an affirmative act

or omission, the dispositive factor to assess whether a state created danger existed is “whether the

state in some way placed the plaintiff in a dangerous position that was foreseeable.” Morse v.

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21 Mr. Vera cites to Morse for the proposition that the state created danger theory may be

established by an omission, rather than an act. Vera Response Memorandum at 5. In Morse, the

husband and child of a day care teacher who was shot and killed in the presence of her class filed

a Section 1983 claim against the public school for failing to adhere to its policy of keeping the

back doors to the school locked. Morse v. Lower Merion Sch. Dist., 132 F.3d 902, 904 (3d Cir.

1997). The court found that no liability could lie under the state created danger theory because

there was no direct causal connection between the acts or omissions of the school and the harm,

and that it was not the act or omission of the state actor that directly placed the victim in harm’s

way. Morse, 132 F.3d at 915. In the present case, Mr. Vera tries to meet the Morse analysis by

alleging that “but for” the omission of the Defendants, his parental rights would not have been

violated because Ms. Correa would have been caught sooner. While the Court understands why

Mr. Vera would need to make such an assertion, in fact it is little more than a supposition that

has no basis in the actual facts of this case, and the Court finds that the theoretical causal

association is just that – theoretical – and too attenuated to satisfy the articulated standards. 

22 In Tazioly, the plaintiff was a minor child who had been severely abused by his mother

and her boyfriend. Workers at the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, “despite . . .

mounting evidence that [the child’s mother] posed a grave threat” to the child’s welfare, made

the decision to remove the child from foster care and return him to his mother’s home. Tazioly

v. City of Philadelphia, No. 97-1219, 1998 WL 633747, at * 5 (E.D. Pa. Sept. 10, 1998). In

finding that liability under the state created danger theory was properly asserted, the court noted

that because the Department knew of the mother’s “propensities for violent and bizarre

behavior,” the risk of harm to the child was foreseeable. In this case, the foreseeability of the

harm at the hands of a previously unknown arsonist-kidnapper is so much more questionable as

to make Tazioly unhelpful to Plaintiffs’ case. 

23 In Lewis, the Supreme Court considered the substantive due process claim of the

parents of an individual who was killed during a high-speed automobile chase. County of

Sacramento v. Lewis, 523 U.S. 833, 836 (1998). In finding that the individual’s due process

rights had not been violated, the Court held that “in such circumstances only a purpose to cause

harm unrelated to the legitimate object of arrest will satisfy the element of arbitrary conduct

shocking to the conscience, necessary for a due process violation.” Lewis, 523 U.S. at 836.

30

Lower Merion Sch. Dist., 132 F.3d 902, 915 (3d Cir. 1997) (emphasis added);21 Tazioly v. City

of Philadelphia, No. 97-1219, 1998 WL 633747, at * 7 (E.D. Pa. Sept. 10, 1998).22 Then, in

2003, the court acknowledged that its interpretation and application of the state-created danger

doctrine as adopted in Kneipp was, in light of the post-Kneipp decision of County of Sacramento

v. Lewis, 523 U.S. 833 (1998),23 in need of an update. That update came in the case of Schieber

Case 2:05-cv-03749-GEKP Document 36 Filed 08/11/06 Page 30 of 46
31

v. City of Philadelphia, 320 F.3d 409 (3d Cir. 2003).

In Schieber, the parents of a woman who had been raped and murdered sued the City of

Philadelphia and several of its police officers. The plaintiffs alleged that the police officers

violated their daughter’s substantive due process rights by failing to break down her apartment

door after a neighbor called the police and reported that he had heard screams for help coming

from the apartment. Schieber, 320 F.3d at 411. Evaluating the claim, the Schieber court noted

that under Lewis, the touchstone of due process was “protection of the individual against

arbitrary action of the government.” Schieber, 320 F.3d at 417. The court further noted that the

standard to be applied where a substantive due process claim grounded on executive action is

alleged is that the action be “so ill-conceived or malicious that it ‘shocks the conscience.’” Id. 

The court of appeals further delineated the parameters of the state-created danger

exception in two recent cases – Bright v. Westmoreland Cty, 443 F.3d 276 (3d Cir. 2006) and

Sanford v. Stiles, No. 04-4496, 2006 WL 2161404 (3d Cir. Aug. 2, 2006). In Bright, the

plaintiffs were the parents of an 8 year-old girl who was murdered by an individual who pled

guilty to corrupting the morals of the plaintiffs’ 12-year old daughter and was under court order

to have no contact with the victim and no unsupervised contact with any minor. Bright, 443 F.3d

at 278. After the individual was seen in a department store with the 12-year old victim, probation

officers prepared a violation report and requested a hearing to revoke probation. Id. at 278-79. 

While the preparation of these reports and requests took place over a period of approximately

three months, the father of the girls called one of the police officers who had previously dealt

with the individual/abuser shortly after the incident at the department store occurred and asked

that the individual be arrested. Id. at 279. Although the officer indicated that immediate action

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24 The Bright plaintiffs also filed state law claims for wrongful death and survival, as

well as assault and battery claims, against the individual who committed the murder.

32

would be taken, none was, and before the probation revocation hearing occurred, the individual

shot and killed the 12-year old girl’s younger sister, the 8 year-old. Id. The plaintiffs sued the

probation and police officers, alleging that “the affirmative acts and/or deliberate failure to

enforce . . . the court-ordered conditions of probation” constituted a state-created danger that

resulted in the death of the murder victim, violating her substantive right to due process under the

Fourteenth Amendment.24 Id.

In analyzing the claim, the court set forth the “essential elements” of a state-created

danger claim to be (1) the harm ultimately caused was foreseeable and fairly direct; (2) a state

actor acted with a degree of culpability that shocks the conscience; (3) a relationship between the

state and the plaintiff existed such that “the plaintiff was a foreseeable victim of the defendant’s

act,” or a “member of a discrete class of persons subjected to the potential harm brought about by

the state’s actions,” as opposed to a member of the public in general; and (4) a state actor

affirmatively used his or her authority in a way that created a danger to the citizen or that

rendered the citizen more vulnerable to danger than had the state not acted at all. Bright, 443

F.3d at 281. The court stressed that under this element of a state-created danger claim, liability is

predicated upon affirmative acts which work to the plaintiffs’ detriments in terms of exposure to

danger. Bright, 443 F.3d at 282. The Bright court further noted that it is the misuse of state

authority, rather than a failure to use it, that would violate the Due Process Clause. Id. 

The case law discussed above provides sufficient guidance for the Court to apply the

state-created danger test articulated in Bright to the present case.

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33

The Defendants argue that the foreseeability feature of the test is not met here because

they could not have known that Ms. Correa was going to set a fire at the Cuevas home and, thus,

they could not have prevented the arson-to-kidnapping event from happening. Jan. 25 Tr. at

22:1-5. In response, Mr. Vera asserts that he is not alleging that the fire and kidnapping itself

could have been prevented, but rather that it is the Defendants’ behavior during the aftermath of

the fire that caused the harm. Essentially, Mr. Vera argues that the scientific and forensic

evidence that the fire was not accidental, coupled with the facts that Ms. Cuevas told the

Defendants that Delimar was not in her crib when Ms. Cuevas looked into the room at the start of

the fire and that no remains were ever found, add up to foreseeability in this case. Jan. 25 Tr. at

28:9-15. 

Assuming, as the Court must, all of these allegations to be true, they alone are not

sufficient to support finding that it would have been foreseeable for the City officials to realize or

even suspect that Delimar had been taken. While the circumstances arguably could have given

the officials pause to interview other witnesses or ask further questions, the ultimate conclusion

that Delimar was not in her crib because she was missing and had been kidnapped, given the

absence of any other facts at that time, is too attenuated for the Court to conclude that the fact of

the kidnapping was foreseeable.

The Court must next consider whether the allegations, taken as true, would exhibit a

degree of culpability by the Defendants that would “shock the conscience.” The Supreme Court

has stated that “the constitutional concept of conscience shocking duplicates no traditional

category of common-law fault, but rather points clearly away from liability, or clearly toward it,

only at the ends of the tort law’s spectrum of culpability.” Lewis, 523 U.S. at 848. On one end

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34

of the spectrum, liability for negligently inflicted harm is “categorically beneath the threshold of

constitutional due process.” Lewis, 523 U.S. at 849. On the other end, conduct that is “intended

to injure in some way unjustifiable by any government interest” is the sort that would most likely

rise to the conscience-shocking level. Id. Where behavior by a government actor falls in the

middle range, such as recklessness or gross negligence, a court is confronted with a closer call. 

Id. Thus, to determine whether a government action was arbitrary in the constitutional sense, a

court must consider the context in which the alleged action took place. Schieber, 320 F.3d at

417; see also Miller v. City of Philadelphia, 174 F.3d 368, 375 (3d Cir. 1999). 

The “shock the conscience” standard in the context of a state-created danger claim has

been very recently analyzed by the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Sanford v. Stiles,

No. 04-4496, 2006 WL 2161404 (3d Cir. Aug. 2, 2006). In Sanford, the plaintiff was the mother

of a 16-year old boy who committed suicide a short time after he had spoken with a high school

guidance counselor who had inquired as to the boy’s welfare and whether he had any plans to

harm himself. Sanford, 2006 WL 2161404at * 3. The boy, Michael Sanford, had sent a note to a

former girlfriend in which he said “I’ve heard 3 diff[erent] stories about you & Ryan. The one I

heard almost made me want to kill myself.” Id. at * 2. The former girlfriend went to a guidance

counselor with the note, expressing concern for Michael, as well as indicating that she wanted

him to stop “bugging” her. Id. After reviewing the note, a guidance counselor, Pamela Stiles,

called Michael into her office and had a discussion with him to explore whether he was upset. 

Id. Ms. Stiles expressly asked Michael if he had any plans to harm himself, to which he

responded “definitely not.” Id. Despite giving this answer, about one week after this meeting,

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25 The Court notes that the Sanford court based its affirmance on the second and fourth

prongs of the Bright test. Sanford, 2006 WL 2161404, at * 4. For purposes of this analysis, the

culpability standard developed in Sanford is most relevant and helpful.

35

Michael Sanford killed himself. 

Mrs. Sanford then filed a claim against Ms. Stiles and the school district in which she

alleged that the defendants were liable for Michael’s death under a state-created danger theory for

constitutional violations pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Id. at * 3. In affirming the district court’s

entry of summary judgment in favor of the defendants, the Sanford court concluded that Mrs.

Sanford had not established that Ms. Stiles acted with the requisite degree of culpability to

sustain a claim grounded on a state-created danger theory.25 In so concluding, the court set forth

a thorough, chronically summarized history of its jurisprudence on the standard of culpability

respecting state-created danger claims, and concluded that there is a continuum upon which the

degree of culpability required to establish such a claim must be measured, relating to the

circumstances of each case. 

The time within which the government actors had to respond to an incident is of

particular significance. For example, the Sanford court stated that “[t]he level of culpability

required to shock the conscience increases as the time state actors have to deliberate increases.” 

Id. at * 8. The court then concluded that while intent to cause harm must be found in a

“hyperpressurized environment,” where officials are afforded the luxury of a greater degree of

deliberation and have time to make “unhurried judgments,” deliberate indifference is sufficient to

support an allegation of culpability. Id. at *8. The court further noted “the possibility that

deliberate indifference might exist without actual knowledge of a risk of harm when the risk is so

obvious that is should be known.” Id. Finally, where the circumstances require a state actor to

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26 In developing this last standard to measure culpability, the Sanford court merged its

prior holdings in Miller v. City of Philadelphia, 174 F.3d 368, 375 (3d Cir. 1999), and Ziccardi v.

City of Philadelphia, 288 F.3d 57, 58-59 (3d Cir. 2002). Miller involved a plaintiff’s objections

to the acts of a social worker which led to the removal, on an emergency basis, of children from

the custody of their mother. There, the court set forth a standard of fault between deliberate

indifference and purpose to cause harm, defining the standard to be “gross negligence or

arbitrariness that indeed shocks the conscience.” Sanford, 2006 WL 2161404 at * 6. Ziccardi

involved a plaintiff claiming that the negligent behavior of two paramedics rendered the plaintiff

a quadriplegic. The Ziccardi court determined that the standard set forth in Miller “was not

intended as a ‘precise articulation,’ that arbitrariness is a general requirement for substantive due

process violations and that gross negligence encompasses a lower level of intent than deliberate

indifference,” and then concluded that in situations where an instantaneous decision is not

necessary but where a state actor “does not have the luxury of proceeding in a deliberate fashion .

. . a plaintiff must show that the defendant consciously disregarded, not just a substantial risk, but

a great risk of serious harm. . . .” Sanford, 2006 WL 2161404, at * 7 (emphasis in original).

27 The Court notes that Ms. Cuevas’s Complaint does not allege a substantive due

process violation, but rather only makes mention of a procedural due process violation. Thus,

Ms. Cuevas’s complaint is not implicated in this part of the Court’s analysis.

36

make something less exigent than a “split-second” decision but more urgent than an “unhurried

judgment,” i.e., a state actor is required to act “in a matter of hours or minutes,” a court must

consider whether a defendant disregarded a “great risk of serious harm rather than a substantial

risk.” Id. at * 8.26

The Court finds that the circumstances in this case, as alleged in Mr. Vera’s Complaint,27

are not sufficient to support a finding that the alleged behavior of the Defendants rises to the

level of “shocking the conscience” in a constitutional sense. The substance of the allegations

supporting a claim that Mr. Vera’s substantive right to liberty with respect to the rearing of

Delimar was violated include assertions that the City officials involved in quelling the fire and

subsequently investigating its cause did not, despite being told that Delimar was not in her crib at

the time the fire occurred, adequately or diligently investigate the fire scene to discover that the

fire had been set, and did not conduct an adequate search for Delimar’s remains before declaring

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37

that she had died in the fire. Vera Compl. at ¶¶ 24 - 34. The Plaintiffs then assert that as a result

of these alleged deficiencies, the Defendants perpetuated or created a dangerous situation where

Delimar was falsely imprisoned and kept away from her parents for a period of six years. Jan.

25, 2006 Tr. at 25:12-24. The purported result of the harm, according to these allegations, is

simply too attenuated to relate back to the alleged actions of the Defendants. Moreover, even

assuming that the behavior of the Defendants fell into the middle category of not requiring an

instantaneous decision (such as the opportunity to investigate the fire afterwards), the allegations

do not support an assertion that the Defendants acted with disregard to a great risk of serious

harm to Delimar. To find the Defendants’ behavior so reckless as to shock the conscience, the

Court is required to accept the implicit presumption that had the Defendants continued on with a

further investigation and conducted that investigation properly, Delimar would have been located

and returned to her parents some time notably sooner than after a six year period. The Court

declines the invitation to accept such a presumption, and finds that the behavior alleged in the

Vera Complaint really amounts to allegations of negligence on the part of the Defendants. 

Therefore, the Court finds that the allegations in the Vera Complaint do not rise to the level of

shocking the conscience in support of a substantive due process violation.

The Court must next consider the third element set forth under Bright, which requires a

consideration of the relationship between Mr. Vera and Delimar and the Defendants. That is, the

Court must consider whether Mr. Vera and Delimar, as plaintiffs, were foreseeable victims of the

Defendants’ alleged harmful acts. It would certainly be foreseeable that because Mr. Vera was

told that Delimar had died, he would not attempt to conduct an active search for her. However,

as discussed above, the harm that Mr. Vera suffered in being separated from his daughter for six

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38

years is too attenuated to the alleged acts of the Defendants. In fact, the harm suffered by all of

the Plaintiffs is more directly related to the criminal actions taken by Ms. Correa. There is no

crystal ball available to shed light on what might have happened had the Defendants discovered

the arson and conducted further forensic examinations. Thus, while there was a relationship

between Mr. Vera and Delimar and the Defendants, the foreseeability of the harms alleged is too

attenuated to credit.

The Court must finally consider whether the Defendants, as state actors, affirmatively

used their authority in a way that created a danger to Mr. Vera and/or Delimar and rendered them

more vulnerable to danger than had the Defendants not acted at all. Here, Mr. Vera argues that

the Defendants’ “complete lack of ability to discharge their duties in the way that they were

supposed to,” along with the fact that the Defendants failed to properly examine the scientific

and forensic evidence appropriately and ignored important facts, amount to an affirmative action

that resulted in a six-year confinement for Delimar. Jan. 25 Tr. at 25:12-24. The Court does not

agree that the alleged negligent discharge of official obligations, fairly considered as amounting

to omissions rather than affirmative actions, constitutes an affirmative abuse of authority. 

Moreover, the speculative thread that is interwoven throughout Plaintiffs’ entire argument

continues throughout this element, as it is not at all clear to the Court that had the investigation

been conducted as the Plaintiffs would have wished, the period of Delimar’s confinement would

have been less than it was.

For all of the reasons discussed above, the allegations presented in Counts 3 and 4 of the

Vera Complaint are not sufficient to fall within the state created danger doctrine set forth in

DeShaney and its progeny. Thus, any claim based on this theory will be dismissed. 

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28 The Court specially notes that the terms “companionship, care, custody and control”

are legal terms used to define a particular constitutional right. In the context of the constitutional

rights of parents and children, the Court is reluctant to endorse language that could further

ingrain the notion that children are equivalent to the “property” of their parents and, therefore,

prefers to construe the terms to mean, in the words of Mr. Vera’s very able and articulate

counsel, “the right of the parent to have an actual relationship with the child, to be able to love

that child and care for that child on a daily basis.” Jan. 25, 2006 at 35:22-24.

29 In Troxel, the Supreme Court considered whether the application of a state statute that

permitted any person to file a petition seeking visitation rights with a child, so long as the

visitation was found to be in the best interest of the child, resulted in an unconstitutional

infringement upon a parent’s right to raise their child. Troxel, 530 U.S. at 60. The Court found

that the statute, as it was applied in that case, created such an infringement. Id. at 72.

39

b. Right to Companionship, Care, Custody, Control of Child

The second component of Mr. Vera’s substantive due process claims alleges that Mr.

Vera’s Fourteenth Amendment right to liberty was violated because Mr. Vera was, as a result of

the Defendants’ actions or omissions, denied his interest as a parent in the companionship, care,

custody and control of Delimar, and the right to make decisions concerning her rearing.28

It is well settled that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment provides

“heightened protection against government interference with certain fundamental rights and

liberty interests,” and that the companionship, care, custody and control of a child is recognized

as a protected fundamental liberty interest. See Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57, 65 (2000).29

However, courts within the Third Circuit and elsewhere have observed that such a right is not

unlimited, and that violations of due process rights are only recognized where the state took

action “specifically aimed” at interfering with the parent-child relationship. See, e.g., McCurdy

v. Dodd, 352 F.3d 820, 829-30 (3d Cir. 2003) (stating that it would “stretch the concept of due

process too far if we were to recognize a constitutional violation based on official actions that

were not directed at the parent-child relationship.”); see also Russ v. Watts, 414 F.3d 783, 788-89

Case 2:05-cv-03749-GEKP Document 36 Filed 08/11/06 Page 39 of 46
30 The Court notes that the Third Circuit Court of Appeals again addressed the issue in

the non-precedential case of Hannah v. City of Dover, 152 Fed. Appx. 114, 116 (3d Cir. 2005). 

There, the court reiterated the McCurdy conclusion that the liberty interest in a parent-child

relationship applies only to minor, and not adult, children.

31 The basis for the district court’s grant of summary judgment did not address the

constitutional issue, but rather held that Mr. McCurdy could not recover because he had accepted

his statutory share of the state proceeds and had executed a settlement agreement with the

decedent’s mother. McCurdy, 352 F.3d at 824-25.

40

(7th Cir. 2005) (same); Ehly v. City of Philadelphia, No. 03-3634, 2004 WL 2644392 (E.D. Pa.

Nov. 17, 2004) (stating that the Due Process Clause “has never been held to protect against

government actions that affect the parental relationship only incidentally”).

The most recent case decided by the Third Circuit to fully analyze the constitutional right

in a parental relationship is McCurdy v. Dodd, 352 F.3d 820, 829-30 (3d Cir. 2003).30 In

McCurdy, the plaintiff, Bobby McCurdy, was the father of Donta Dawson, a 19 year-old who had

been killed by a police officer who mistakenly thought that Mr. Dawson had a weapon and was

reaching for it during a routine stop. McCurdy, 352 F.3d at 822. Mr. McCurdy filed a lawsuit

which included a Section 1983 claim grounded upon the violation of his liberty interest in the

companionship of Mr. Dawson, and the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the

defendants.31 Id. at 824. The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the district court’s

holding, finding that an individual’s liberty interest in the care, custody and control of children

was grounded in the right to make critical child-rearing decisions and, therefore, did not extend

to the relationship between a parent and an adult child. Id. at 829. In so holding, the McCurdy

court also expressed reluctance to extend the Due Process Clause to encompass “official actions

that were not deliberately directed at the parent-child relationship.” McCurdy, 352 F.3d at 829.

The Defendants here argue that Mr. Vera’s claims must fail because, as in McCurdy, the

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32 Aside from citing to cases establishing the well-settled right, e.g., Troxel, Mr. Vera

does not cite to any cases in which a court has found that police or other activities similar to

those taken in this case were directly aimed at the parent-child relationship.

41

actions taken were not directed at the parent-child relationship, but rather that any direct harm

suffered as a result of the fire was caused by Ms. Correa. That is, the Defendants argue that any

harm caused by them was incidental to their primary duties and responsibilities. Mr. Vera

disagrees, arguing that because the acts and omissions on the part of the state actors directly

resulted in his belief that his child was dead rather than missing, the actions were directly aimed

at the parent-child relationship.32

In this case, there is no question that Mr. Vera has a constitutional liberty interest in the

companionship, care, custody and control of Delimar, who was and remains today a minor child. 

However, the allegations in Mr. Vera’s Complaint do not really allege a direct a link to harm, as

the law requires. That is, although the alleged acts and omissions did lead Mr. Vera to believe

that Delimar had died in the house fire, those actions are only alleged to have been erroneous, not

intentional. In fact, at oral argument, counsel for Mr. Vera understandably referred to the

representations of Delimar’s death as “clearly erroneous.” Jan. 25 Tr. at 24:12. Moreover, the

attenuation that plagues the other claims in this case persists on this issue as well. To accept Mr.

Vera’s argument that the actions of the Defendants was “directly aimed” at separating Delimar

from him, the Court must make the speculative leap, that had Mr. Vera known that Delimar was

not dead, he would have been successful in his certain search to locate her. Unless Mr. Vera had

had some reason to suspect nefarious conduct by Ms. Correa (or some specific person like her),

in which case he would surely have given that information to the authorities no matter what they

erroneously believed or told him, there is simply no logical reason to think a frantic or dogged

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42

parental search would have been successful. Stated more plainly, the facts, as alleged, are not

sufficient to support such speculation and, for these reasons, Mr. Vera’s substantive due process

claim based on this theory will be dismissed.

D. Personal Involvement of Certain Individual Defendants

Defendants next argue that the claims against former Fire Commissioner Harold Hairston,

former Police Commissioner Richard Neal and Medical Examiner Haresh Mirchandani, M.D.

must be dismissed because the Complaint does not attribute any specific behavior to these

defendants. In response, Ms. Cuevas argues that under the requirements of “notice pleading,” no

such detail is required at this stage of the litigation. Moreover, Ms. Cuevas argues, each of these

defendants is identified in the Complaint as a person “who was responsible for training and

instructing . . . personnel, and establishing, implementing, and supervising official policy. . . .” 

Cuevas Compl. at ¶¶ 5, 11, 17; Vera Compl. at ¶¶ 5, 11, 17. Because the Court has concluded

that the allegations in neither of the complaints meet the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil

Procedure 12(b)(6), this argument will not be addressed.

E. Qualified Immunity

The Defendants finally argue that the doctrine of qualified immunity requires that the

claims against all of the Individual Defendants be dismissed. In general, government officials

performing discretionary functions are shielded from liability for civil damages “insofar as their

conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a

reasonable person would have known.” Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 817-18 (1982). 

Where a defendant seeks the benefit of qualified immunity, a ruling on that issue should be made

early in the proceedings so that the costs and expenses of trial are avoided where the defense is

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43

dispositive. Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 200 (2001).

Courts apply a two-part test to determine whether qualified immunity applies in a

particular case. First, a court must consider whether the facts, considered in a light most

favorable to the allegedly injured party, show that the official’s conduct violated a constitutional

right. Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201 (2001). Once it is shown that a constitutional right was

violated, a court must then consider whether the right was clearly established, such that the

official had reason to know the consequences of his or her specific actions. See Saucier, 533 U.S.

at 201; Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 636-37 (1987); see also Berg v. County of

Allegheny, 219 F.3d 261, 272 (3d Cir. 2000). In this case, because the Court has concluded that

the allegations do not support a claim for a violation of a constitutional right, the Court need not

continue its analysis with respect to qualified immunity.

F. State Law Claims

Mr. Vera’s Complaint also includes two claims that are based upon state law. Counts 5

and 6 of the Vera Complaint allege claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress against

the Individual Defendants (Count 5) and the City (Count 6). The only basis for the exercise of

jurisdiction over these claims is that of supplemental jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367. 

See Vera Compl. at ¶ 1. Section 1367 states that “in any civil action of which the district courts

have original jurisdiction, the district courts shall have supplemental jurisdiction over all other

claims that are so related to claims in the action within such original jurisdiction that they form

part of the same case or controversy. . . .” 28 U.S.C. § 1367. 

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44

There are, however, exceptions to the exercise of supplemental jurisdiction. For example,

Section 1367(c)(3) allows a district court to decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over a

state law claim if the district court has dismissed all claims over which it has original

jurisdiction. In this case, because all of the federal claims will be dismissed, the Court exercises

its discretion to decline the exercise of supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claims.

CONCLUSION

For the reasons discussed above, the Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss the Complaints

filed by Ms. Cuevas and Mr. Vera will be granted. An appropriate Order follows.

S/Gene E.K. Pratter

Gene E.K. Pratter

United States District Judge

August 11, 2006

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1

 The Court notes that Vera v. City of Philadelphia, et al., Case No. 05-5037, was closed

and this motion was terminated when the case was consolidated with Cuevas v. Philadelphia, et

al., Case No. 05-3749. However, because the Vera complaint presented additional claims, the

motions to dismiss the respective complaints are treated separately.

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

LUZ AIDA CUEVAS, INVIDUALLY : CIVIL ACTION

ON HER OWN BEHALF AND AS :

PARENT AND NATURAL GUARDIAN :

OF, AND ON BEHALF OF DELIMAR :

VERA, A MINOR, ET AL., :

Plaintiffs, :

 :

vs. :

 :

CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, ET AL., :

Defendants. : No. 05-3749 [Consolidated]

O R D E R

AND NOW, this 11th day of August, 2006, upon consideration of the Motion to Dismiss

the Cuevas Complaint filed by Joseph E. Rissling, Haresh Mirchandani, Carl Spurill, David

Quain, Greg McDonald, Carolyn H. Revercomb, Richard Neal, City of Philadelphia, Harold B.

Hairston, John J. Grugan, Vincent W. Heeney, Robert J. McBrearty, and Lucien Cerulli (Cuevas

Docket No. 8), the Motion to Dismiss the Cuevas Complaint filed by Pat Kauffman (Cuevas

Docket No. 11), the Motion to Dismiss the Vera Complaint1 filed by Robert J. McBrearty, Lucien

Cerulli, Joseph E. Rissling, Haresh Mirchandani, Carl Spurill, David Quain, Greg McDonald,

Carolyn H. Revercomb, Richard Neal, City of Philadelphia, Harold B. Hairston, John J. Grugan

and Vincent W. Heeney (Vera Docket No. 7), the responses thereto (Cuevas Docket Nos. 17, 19,

20, 21, 32 and Vera Docket Nos. 12, 13), it is ORDERED that all of the Motion are

Case 2:05-cv-03749-GEKP Document 36 Filed 08/11/06 Page 45 of 46
GRANTED. The Clerk of Court is instructed to mark this consolidated case as closed.

BY THE COURT:

S/Gene E.K. Pratter

GENE E.K. PRATTER

United States District Judge

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